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The Minnesota State University Moorhead football team will continue its 2014 season with back-to-back home games, starting this Saturday against Northern State. Game time is 2 p.m. at Nemzek Stadium in Moorhead, Minn.

For those unable to attend the game, it can be found on WDAY'Z XTRA channel. That is available on channel 6.3 over the air, 596 for Midcontinent Communications customers, and on WDAY.com. Live audio, with Dragon broadcasters Steve d'Eustachio and Larry Scott on the call, can be heard at msumdragons.com. 

MSUM is 1-4 overall and in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference while Northern State is 3-2 overall and in the league. The Dragons are 0-1 in the north division while the Wolves are 1-0.

Series history
MSUM and Northern State will meet for a 52nd time with the Wolves holding a 28-22-1 series lead. The Dragons ended a four-game losing streak against Northern State with a thrilling 47-46 win last year in Aberdeen, S.D.

Last five meetings:
2013: MSUM 47, Northern State 46 (in Aberdeen, S.D.)
2012: Northern State 45, MSUM 7 (in Moorhead, Minn.)
2011: Northern State 42, MSUM 21 (in Moorhead, Minn.)
2010: Northern State 16, MSUM 7 (in Aberdeen, S.D.)
2009: Northern State 23, MSUM 0 (in Aberdeen, S.D.)

The Head Coaches
Steve Laqua is in his fourth season as MSUM's head coach with a record of 8-30 at the school, while Tom Dosch is in his fifth season as Northern State's head coach with a record of 20-29.

About MSUM
The Dragons are coming off of a 63-28 loss to No. 4-ranked Minnesota Duluth on Oct. 4 in Duluth, Minn. Facing a nationally-ranked opponent for the third time in four weeks, MSUM fell behind 35-0 but closed the gap to 42-21 at halftime. The Bulldogs steadily pulled away in the second half on their way to the win. Junior quarterback Jake Hodge threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 84 yards and a score. Junior Adam Jiskra and sophomores Cory Ambrose and Dan Grande each caught touchdowns.

Junior running back Zayne Medhaug leads the Dragons with 412 rushing yards. He has three touchdowns.  Hodge has rushed for 398 yards and four touchdowns. Hodge has thrown for 1,126 yards and nine touchdowns. Junior receiver Adam Jiskra has 31 catches for 485 yards and four touchdowns, while sophomore receiver Cory Ambrose has 23 catches. MSUM is averaging 209.4 yards per game on the ground and 250.2 yards per game through the air for a total of 459.6 yards per game of total offense. The Dragons are scoring 27.6 points per game.

Sophomore linebacker Aaron Bohl leads MSUM with 47 tackles, while junior cornerback Chris Binford has 39 tackles along with two interceptions. Sophomore defensive lineman Ryan Dahleen, sophomore defensive tackle Zach Drevlow, sophomore Sheldon Jones, freshman defensive tackle Jake Busse and redshirt freshman safety Abe Roehrich each have a sack.  Jones has six pass breakups and an interception.

The Dragon defense allows 57.0 points per game and 282.4 yards per game on the ground. Teams are throwing for 323.8 yards per game against the Dragons, who surrender 606.2 yards per game of total offense.

About Northern State
Northern State improved to 3-2 on the year with a 42-14 win over Minot State last week. Quarterback Jared Jacobson threw for 260 yards and five touchdowns to pace the Wolves, who led 21-7 at halftime and pulled away in the second half.

Jacobson has thrown for 951 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 61.1 percent of his passes.  Freshman running back Nicholas Truen has rushed for 418 yards and three scores while Jacobson has rushed for 269 yards and four scores.

Sophomore tight end Connor Doherty has 24 catches for 265 yards and two scores for Northern State.  The Wolves score 29.2 points per game and average 366.4 yards per contest in total offense.

On defense, junior defensive back Blaine Schmidt has 33 tackles and two pass breakups while junior linebacker Devin Olson has 30 tackles. Senior linebacker Michael Alberts leads with two sacks while sophomore Joe Parsley has two interceptions.

The Wolves allow 34.6 points per game on defense. They are allowing 454.0 yards per game in total offense this season.

More about the Dragons
Tough Road
Few Division II teams have played as difficult a schedule as the Dragons have so far in 2014. The combined record of the Dragons' five foes is 23-2 (.920). The combined record of the four teams MSUM has lost to is 20-0, with three of the teams (Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth and Sioux Falls) currently ranked in the AFCA Division II top 25. The other team the Dragons have lost to, Upper Iowa, is receiving votes in the latest poll.

National Rankings
The MSUM football team is ranked 20th in all of Division II in total offense at 489.9 yards per game. The Dragons are ranked 23rd in the nation in rushing offense (230.5 yards per game) and 28th in the nation in first downs (96).
Hodge is 21st in total offense per game at 304.8 and 28th in points responsible for per game (16.8). Jiskra is ranked 26th in receiving yards at 485.

Hodge and Jiskra Climbing the Charts
Hodge is now ranked second in Dragon school history with 5,050 career passing yards and trails career leader Dustin Long, who has 5,748 career yards. Jiskra is now ranked third all-time in career receptions with 139.

Block Party
Redshirt freshman safety Abe Roehrich and freshman defensive lineman Jake Busse both blocked field goals during the Dragons' 40-36 win over Wayne State on Sept 20. In a game decided by four points, keeping those six points off the scoreboard proved vital.

Week 6 Under Laqua
The Dragons are 0-3 in Week 6 games under Head Coach Steve Laqua. In 2011, the Dragons lost to Southwest Minnesota State, 45-13 and in 2012, they lost at Minnesota-Duluth 45-14. MSUM lost to UMD, 69-45 in 2013 in Moorhead.

All-Purpose Weapon
Junior running back Zayne Medhaug became the first player in the NSIC to return a kickoff for a touchdown in the Dragons' 40-36 win over Wayne State. Medhaug returned a kickoff 98 yards for a score in the fourth quarter to put MSUM up 38-23 in what proved to be the game-winning score. Medhaug leads the NSIC in kick return average at 35.4 yards per return. He is fifth in the NSIC in all-purpose yardage at 130.0 yards per game and is ninth in rushing yards per game at 82.4.
It was MSUM's first kick return for a touchdown since 2006 when Jabari Taylor accomplished the feat.

Hodge a Double Threat
Hodge continues to be one of the top all-around threats in the NSIC.  He ranks second in the league in total offense per game at 304.8 yards per game.  Hodge also is ranked fifth in the NSIC in passing yards per game at 225.2.

All-NSIC returners
The Dragons had seven players who earned All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference honors a year ago, and all seven return.

That includes junior wide receiver Adam Jiskra, who was a first-team selection a year ago. Also returning for the Dragons are junior quarterback Jake Hodge (All-NSIC second team), junior running back Zayne Medhaug (All-NSIC second team),  sophomore wide receiver Cory Ambrose (All-NSIC second team), junior linebacker Chris Lee (honorable mention), junior offensive lineman Troy Peterson (honorable mention) and defensive lineman Ryan Dahleen (honorable mention).

2014 Captains
MSUM's senior linebacker Lomumba Ismail and sophomore linebacker Aaron Bohl are the Dragons' 2014 team captains.

No Place Like Home
Nearly half of the Dragons' 2014 roster is from Minnesota, as 43 players hail from the Land of 10,000 Lakes.  The next state is neighboring North Dakota with 18 players.

Another 100 for Jiskra
Junior wide receiver Adam Jiskra recorded the ninth 100-yard receiving game of his career the win at Wayne State. Jiskra had six catches for 167 yards.

Stalwarts Up Front
Senior Kasey Groettum and juniors Bennen Bierman and Troy Peterson have each started all 27 games over the past two-plus seasons on the offensive line -- combining for 81 starts during that time. Their play is among the keys to the Dragon offense's growth over the past two seasons. Groettum is in his fourth year as a starter after starting in five games as a freshman in 2011.

Picking Up Where They Left Off...
Offensively, the Dragons set eight records a year ago, and they picked up right where they left off in 2013 in their opening game at Upper Iowa. The Dragons set a new school record with 709 total yards of offense, topping the previous mark of 685 set in 2013 against Minnesota Duluth. MSUM also tied a school record with 100 offensive plays, tying the mark set against Southwest State in 1971.